Everything was great, Saturday morning at the North Beach on Deception Pass, the tidal currents were so favorable and even the sun tried to shine on us, not a frequent matter at this location. As we start our descent, I stop to take first shot and to my horror, the strobe does not fire. Deception Pass is not a spot one casually returns to the vehicle and fiddles with the cable, controls or whatever might be wrong, ( I did check it before the dive and strobe was firing OK). So I ended up switching to Shutter Priority mode, rised ISO setting and used the focusing and modeling lights to salvage the dive. Pictures are grainy and depth of field is very shallow, but at least I managed to get some pictures to record our dive. Thanks WHATEVAH !
BTW, the place is amazing, looking forward to come back..

Tom, I have to confess my total ignorance on the sizing for different search engines and computer screens and resolutions, I am not computer savvy and I assumed, until that other thread, that people see what I see on my screen. I explained my dilemma about vertical scroll, I have to do that too, but so far nobody complained, so I keep plogging along. I still use Photoshop 5.5, so that tells you how far behind the curve I am.. There is a point when if it is not fun, it is not worth doing. I enjoy sharing my underwater observations with others and it is fun. So if you guys like it the way I was doing it till now, I am in. Old dog - new tricks, my brain is taxed enough. Cheers my friends

More Pics Than You Have Time To Look AT"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman

LCF wrote:Prior to this year, I had only ever seen one of these critters, but this year, it seems we're encountering them on almost every dive, although they're quite small. Anybody else feel as though there are more of them than usual?

I always seem to see them during my descent... then I hit the brakes, get my buddy's attention and point to it... then they eventually get close enough to see that I'm not crazily pointing at the water... until then, they're thinking "yeah Doug, I'm swimming in the water too."

Prior to this year, I had only ever seen one of these critters, but this year, it seems we're encountering them on almost every dive, although they're quite small. Anybody else feel as though there are more of them than usual?

"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames

Jan K wrote:Well, when I found clusters of them next to what I believe are their eggs, I realized how limited my horizons are - there were hundreds of them! The eggs are the giveaway, so keep a lookout ! :)

OH MY OH MY OH MY! Jan, you just answered a question from a dive I did about 5 years ago at KVI. A few of us were diving off of a buddy's boat, and we didn't quite drop down on the reef itself. We ended up doing a sand dive. Every 2-3 yards, we come across a pile of hundreds of those eggs. None of us knew what they were. After a while, it became kinda creepy because there were literally dozens, if not hundreds, of those piles of eggs--each pile containing hundreds of eggs. After the dive, I looked in books, I described them to others, etc, and I could never find out what they were. I finally just gave up. I think I had almost forgotten about that dive and those mystery eggs because I have never seen them since.....until now, looking at your photos!!!! YAY--you've solved the mystery for me!!! Thanks Jan!

Until now, my encounters with the Pacific Wing Stomach, aka Winged Sea Slug, aka Pacific Wingfoot snail..... were one on one basis, so I considered them rare. Well, when I found clusters of them next to what I believe are their eggs, I realized how limited my horizons are - there were hundreds of them! None of them "flying" so at first I did not know what they were, but here they are, another Whidbey Island Critter surprise. The eggs are the giveaway, so keep a lookout ! :)

More Pics Than You Have Time To Look AT"Anyone who thinks this place is over moderated is bat-crazy anarchist." -Ben, Airsix"Warning: No dive masters are going to be there, Just a bunch of old fat guys taking pictures of fish." -Bassman

Moonsnails are not rarity in our water, and most of the time they are just cruising the sea floor, looking for food. After taking few pictures, usually I move on, for how many photos of them you want ? But time to time I come upon situation which get my extended attention. Their Cockle hunting shenanigans are always fun to watch, but this time I found something new, to which I have no answer. Mating ritual ? On two occasions on the same dive I found two Lewis's moonsnails together, the first encounter (upper shot), they were already disengaging) and on second encounter, one was riding on top of the other. Any ideas ?

LCF wrote:Beautiful photographs, as usual, Jan! I've never seen one of the pink ones.

That's 'cuz you'll usually find them at places where there's nothing else to see except sand and sea pens ... Seahurst Park, Owens Beach, Steilacoom, and Fox Island West Wall (if you don't find the wall, that's about all you'll see) for example.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Threats and ultimatums are never the best answer. Public humiliation via Photoshop is always better - airsix

Winds are blowing and rain is falling. In the protected waters of Holmes Harbor, I came across two of the large slugs which are considered common, but which I found only once, single specimen, three years ago at Langley. Finding these two nudibranchs made my day, regardless of the mayhem above the water..